Data Acquisition, Documentation, Management, and Distribution

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Data Acquisition, Documentation, Management, and
Distribution

• ENVS 4002
• February 15, 2006

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Urban Watershed Management

• Challenges
• Many people (variety of values and daily rounds)
• Altered hydrology (both historical and
  contemporary)
• Altered vegetative structure
• Multiple objectives
• Competing needs

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Our Approach
Community Interests and Concerns (identify
and respond)
Decision-makers (collaborate)
Information (citizen science, social structure,
mapping, policy context)
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Community-based Monitoring and Research

• Stream Surveys
• Watershed Survey
• Watershed delineation and land use mapping
• Socioeconomic mapping
• Forest biodiversity assessment and quantification
  of economic value of forests
• Benthic macroinvertebrate sampling
• Water quality monitoring and modeling
• Bird surveys (Fredericton Nature Club)

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Data Sharing

• Acquisition
• Generation
• Quality assurance
• Storage
• Dissemination
• Value-added/changes and ownership

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Data Acquisition

• Service New Brunswick
• Data sharing agreement managed by NB DOELG
• City of Fredericton
• Share data with FAWA upon signing of NB DOELG
  agreement
• Statistics Canada
• Share data with FAWA via research of faculty
  member involved in FAWA

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Data Generation

• Community
• Stream surveys
• Bird counts
• Benthic sampling
• Forest biodiversity monitoring

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Stream Survey Results
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Watersheds, Land Use / Cover
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Percent Land Use/Cover by Watershed

• Corbett Brook

• Phyllis Creek

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Data Generation

• Community-Government
• Water quality
• Watershed delineation
• Historic maps
• Land use / land cover

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Data Generation

• Government
• Socioeconomic Data - Statistics Canada
• Basemaps Service New Brunswick, City of
  Fredericton
• Property assessment maps Service New Brunswick
• In most cases, we build upon these data

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Social Ecological Conditions
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Data Generation

• University
• Researchers and staff
• Riparian zone vegetation

• Students
• Stream studies
• Fish counts
• Benthics
• Watershed boundaries
• Forest biodiversity
• Stream survey maps

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Riparian Zone Vegetation
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Baseline Assessment of the Corbett Brook
Watershed at Site 3
JON Junkies Of Nature
Objectives
Discussion
Results

• To conduct a baseline assessment of a Corbett
  Brook site within the Industrial Park (Wilsey
  Road), in collaboration with the Fredericton Area
  Watersheds Association.
• To assess the health of the stream by measuring
  flow regime, habitat structures, energy sources
  biotic interactions according to Karrs (1991)
  model of Biotic Integrity.

• Of the organisms caught in the minnow trap, Creek
  Chubb were ca. 3X more abundant than Blacknose
  Dace, which were, in turn, 5X more abundant than
  the invertebrate Crayfish.
• No relationship was apparent between the
  vegetation species richness distance from the
  stream bank (Table 1). More thorough sampling is
  required.

Table 1. Distribution of plant species sampled at
3 random points along a transect line run
perpendicular to stream bank.
O/H Canopy
Mud
Log
Water
Riffle
Sand Patch
Pool
Tree
Gravel/Stone
Boulder
Figure 1. Map of stream habitat dimensions at
Site 3. Stream flows from left to right.
Methods

• Mean riffle surface velocities were 21.5 faster
  than sub-surface velocities. However, surface
  velocities were 40.4 slower in pools (Fig.2).
  The sub-surface velocity measurements in riffles
  may have been impeded by obstructions due to
  shallow water.
• The Family Biotic Index, EPT/Midge Ratio and the
  Composition of major groups indicated that the
  water quality was not adversely effected by
  pollution (Table 2). However, of the 378 BMIs
  collected in the 20 replicates, shredder
  scraper feeding groups were under-represented.

• A 100m permanent transect was established as a
  reference for stream measurements.
• Width channel meander were determined for
  mapping purposes.
• Both depth (at 50cm intervals across the stream)
  velocity were measured at 0m 80m transect
  points to determine discharge (velocity x area).
• Stream surface sub-surface velocities were
  determined at pools riffles.
• Riparian vegetation was surveyed using 3 randomly
  placed 1m2 quadrats along a 20m transect
  perpendicular to the stream bank.
• Benthic Macroinvertebrates (BMIs) were collected
  using Kick Surber samplers.
• Fish communities were sampled overnight using
  baited minnow traps.

Figure 2. A comparison of mean stream velocities
measured using an orange (sub-surface) a
ping-pong ball (surface) in various pools
riffles.
Table 2. Metrics based on BMI data.
Reference Karr, J. 1991. As cited in Murdoch,
T. Cheo, M. OLaughlin, K. 1999.
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Quality assurance

• Metadata documents our data collection methods
• Review of data
• Review of metadata
• Minimize opportunities for error
• Maximize opportunities for error detection

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Community
University
Government
Raw Data
Data Management and Storage Framework
Standardization
Quality Assurance
Archived Data
Metadata
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Data Management Framework
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Data Dissemination Open Research System
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FAWA Metadata with Ownership Information
Does Data Consist of any Proprietary Subsets
NO
YES
FAWA Archived Data on WWW Private, Only for FAWA
use
FAWA Archived Data on WWW Public
Data Distribution Decision Framework
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Metadata

• Modeled on US Long-Term Ecological Research
  Network / National Science Foundation protocols
• FGDC compliant
• Multiple free tools for compiling metadata
• Can use to describe value-added data sets (e.g.
  City of Fredericton FAWA layers)

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ORS Metadata Entry Form
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New Brunswick Data Sharing Advisory Committee

• University of New Brunswick
• City of Fredericton
• Service New Brunswick
• NB Dept of Environment Local Government
• National Water Research Institute
• Fredericton Area Watersheds Association
• Canaan-Washademoak Watershed Association
• Baltimore Ecosystem Study

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So What?

• Data management and dissemination are critical to
  long-term success of monitoring efforts
• Community-based initiatives should not be let off
  the hook, but will likely require a lot of
  technical assistance (in fact, are arguably
  leading the way in NB)
• Local level decisions require local level data
• Regardless of scale, data management and
  dissemination are not trivial

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Local to National Databases
FAWA
National Biomonitoring Program
Province NB
CWWA
NS, PEI, etc.
Kenne- becasis
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Challenges

• Confusion which protocols under what
  circumstances (redundancy/competition in the
  industry)?
• Resources community groups usually
  under-resourced
• Ownership digital data rights
• Scale how does scale of management relate to
  scale of collection, dissemination, decisions?

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Opportunities

• Technical support available
• Community of practice is interested
• Can harness a lot more information by providing
  technical support
• e.g. benthic data
• Can avoid data decay i.e. preserve data over
  time

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Thanks to

• Our many volunteers
• City of Fredericton
• Service New Brunswick
• NB Dept of Environment Local Govt
• Statistics Canada
• University of New Brunswick
• New Brunswick Environmental Trust Fund
• The Baltimore Ecosystem Study
• Mike Wolfe, Reid McLean, James Bornemann